This blog is about architecture, urbanism, neighborhoods, historic preservation and other elements of the physical environment(s) of Central New York, including Syracuse and its many surrounding towns, villages, farms and natural features.

Dorothy
Riester (1916-2017), a pillar in the art world of Central New York for
decades, died this week at the age of 100. She had remained active and
creative until the end of her life. Though not Jewish, Riester
contributed some of the most memorable "Jewish art," in upstate New York
with her sanctuary sculpture for Temple Adath Yeshurun
in Syracuse. Designed by Percival Goodman, the Conservative synagogue
dedicated its new home with Riester's powerful combined Decalogue and
Ner Tamid over the Ark and menorahs on the bimah in June, 1971.
Riester also created a sculpture representing the Burning Bush in Temple
Adath's Cooper Meditation Garden. Her sanctuary work recalls that of
Seymor Lipton, and is in every way of equal quality.

Riester
was one of just a handful of women sculptors who received major
synagogue commissions in the 1950s and 1960s. Others were Mitzie Solomon Cunliffe, Luise Kaish and Louise Nevelson.

Monday, July 24, 2017

Westcott Neighborhood Ward Wellington Ward House Tour Wednesday Evening, July 26th, 5:30 - 7:30 pmI will be leading a walking tour of Arts & Crafts style houses designed by Ward Wellington Ward along Allen Street in Syracuse's Westcott Neighborhood this Wednesday evening form 5:30 to 7:30. We'll walk from the 300 block of Allen Street to Euclid Avenue.

Please note: the tour will only pass exteriors - there will be no entry into private houses.

We will have a stop for refreshments at the Morgan Dunne House at 464 Allen Street to celebrate the inclusion of the house on the National Register of Historic Places, and to hear plans for the upcoming restoration.

The tour starts at the SW corner of Allen Street and East Genesee Street. The tour will proceed if there is light rain. If there is a deluge we will reschedule.

I will discuss Ward's career, local trends in Arts &
Crafts inspired architecture as well associated historicist styles and
vernacular trends. I'll also speak a bit about the overall development
of Allen Street.

Between 1910 and 1923 Ward designed more than a dozen houses in the area, with about the same number designed and built in the University area immediately to the west. Even more houses by Ward were built by Ward in walking distance - in the along Salt Springs Road and in Scottholm .- we can visit these on another tour.

I've written before about some of these houses on this blog and on the WNA website. Here are some links:

Ascending any of the roads of Thornden Park, or coming up the hill from Clarendon Street to Ackerman Ave., one makes for the highest point where sits a massive round tower. Or, like Luna and me yesterday, you can skip the road and just climb the very steep hill rising opposite the Thornden swimming pool.

The tower is actually the Elon P. Stewart Reservoir, which holds 2
million gallons of water and is a key part of the city's
water system. It is gravity fed by Skaneateles Lake (860 feet), which is higher
than Thornden (732 feet). The reservoir (or standpipe) buitl in 1925-26, rests 372 feet above the level of Onondaga Lake.

It was originally just called the Thornden Standpipe, is now named after a former city
water engineer. The steel tank, which is enclosed in a masonry building, is 77 feet across, 60 feet high, and open at the top. When it was constructed, engineers boasted that if
every house in the neighborhood flushed their toilets at the same time, there
would be no drop in pressure. don't know if there was an architect involved - even for the exterior decoration - but the superb masonry work was done by Hueber Bros., Inc. (now Hueber-Breuer).

The simplicity of the building - the pristine geometry of its great cylinder - is what makes the structure striking yet calming. The roots of this design go back to the Pantheon in Rome. These water reservoirs have always reminded me of the Martello Towers in Ireland, too. For more contemporary architectural use of the cylinder see the works of Louis Kahn and Mario Botta.

In keeping with the Pantheon, this brick cylinder has a classical "front" - that is, a flat decorated portal stuck into the curved body of the building. The main portion of this entrance is the frieze dominated by a carved head of Neptune, god of the seas, who is surrounded by shells and tridents, his watery attributes.

Syracuse's water system was first organized in 1841, using
hollowed out logs to move water from spring fed reservoirs to the center of town.
This technology had already been perfected in the salt industry, where hollowed logs were a regular feature to move water. By the 1880's the need for water had greatly increased as the population
boomed, and a more reliable source was needed. and logs were no longer used - since most local forests had been clear cut for farmland. Iron and lead pipes became the favorite conduits of the water - no one considering the now-obvious contamination problems.

After much debate, Skaneateles Lake was chosen as the city's
new water source. Two side by side cast iron pipes were laid over a 19-mile
route between the lake and Syracuse. Although laying pipe through solid rock,
across ravines, and through quicksand was a difficult task, in 1894, after 5 years
of construction, the pipeline was complete. City water was stored in Syracuse
Reservoirnow called Woodland. In the
1920's, two “above tanks” called standpipes, were built one at Woodland and one
at Thornden.

In 1992 the water tower was repaired. Exterior renovation included replacement of theroof, repair of masonry, removal of graffiti,
application of sealer to the masonry, and installation of both security
lighting and a wrought iron fence around the tower to protect it from future
vandalism.In 2014,$2.9 million was spent culminating in a new,
11 ton aluminum roof (pictures of it going up here; and video here). The work was needed
because ofsevere roof deterioration and of 16 concrete columns inside the structure that support the roof.

The views west and especially north from the sprawling grassy lawn around the tower are spectacular. These photos do not do them justice. On July 4th it is traditional for neighborhood families to gather on the great lawn and watch the fireworks from the fairgrounds or the stadium to the north, as little - and not so little - children delight themselves rolling down the green hill.

[n.b. Information in the blog post is pulled from my on-line walking tour of this neighborhood, to explore more of the area see Westcott's England.]

Syracuse has many parks, big and small. Many of these - especially of the small ones - are often in out of the way places, and are sometimes found on left over land. A number of parks include high places, often the summits of drumlins, which were not always desirable for building. Or, these spots might already have been singled out and sometimes privately developed for recreation in the 19th century as popular destinations because they offered expansive vistas and salubrious breezes. This summer (my dog) Luna and I will be a exploring many of these high places - and we hope to report back.

Sometimes, as in the case of Westminster Park, summits and other green spaces were left open in the center of larger building tracts as a way of attracting nearby residential development. This was the case of Westminster Park, a former sheep pasture, that was
deeded for a park by the original Westminster Tract developers in 1890. The
4.784 acre park sits at the end of Westminster Avenue atop a 655-foot drumlin
and offers superb vies of Syracuse and Onondaga Lake – better when the foliage
is not full. It is now connected to Euclid Avenue by steps which were added later.

From 1890 to 1910 the city did little to improve the property
except to develop Westminster Avenue and a sidewalk around the top of the
drumlin. In 1890, ambitious plans were promoted for the erection of a rustic
Gothic style resort hotel at the highest point – where the park is now.
Like so many plans in Syracuse – these went nowhere. Still, these are telling
about how this part of the city was perceived at the end of the 19th century.

On the Highest
Peak A Large Rustic Hotel to the Built on the Top of Lookout Park A Resort for
Pleasure-Seekers in Summer – Plans of Real Estate Agents for Next Season

The real estate
market is quiet just at present and the agent finds little more to do than to
sit in his office, smoke cigars, and plan for the future. A talk with real
estate dealers will disclose that these plans for the future are being made on
a gigantic scale. It is a prevailing impression among real estate men that the
boom a [sic] their particular line in the spring will be something enormous.
Each, of course, claims that the greater boom will be in the direction of his
particular tract. While there is no doubt but that considerable will be done in
all directions, judging from the present outlook, the boom will open strongest
in the eastern and southern portion of the city. The tracts lying in this
direction are the Easterly tract, the Westminster tract, the Hillsdale tract
and the University homestead tract.

A scheme which has been maturing during the winter and which
in all probability will be carried out in the spring is to erect a pleasure
resort on the Westminster tract, a park of about six acres. It was laid out by
the owner of the tract for a park. The trees and shrubs making the shading of
the park have already been set out. The park is situated on the summit of the
highest portion of the tract, which is the highest hill in tho vicinity of
Syracuse. From the park, which will be called Westminster park, a view can be
gained of the entire city of Syracuse, of Onondaga lake, and Oneida lake, which
can be easily seen on a clear day. Drives and walks have been laid out in the
park and these will be nicely graded and paved, with asphalt. The main drive
will be the termination of Westminster avenue. The drive terminates on a large
round plateau upon the very summit of the hill. It is at this point that the
scheme takes form. Upon the eastern side of this plateau it is proposed to
erect a large rustic hotel which will attract thousands from the city during
the warm summer months who desire fresh air and delightful scenery. The plans
for the hotel have not yet been definitely made, but this much is known, it
will be built in similitude of a log structure and will be Gothic in architecture.
The consolidated railroad have made preparations to lay their tracks within
about 200 feet of the proposed building and access to it may thus be gained
when the road is in full operation. Electricity will be the motive power of the
road and it is estimated that it will not take to exceed 20 minutes to reach
the resort from the center of the city.”

Twenty years later, people were still waiting for park
improvements. The Syracuse Journal reported on Oct. 22, 1910 that
“Superintendent Campbell said to-day (sic) that the people of the seventeenth
ward were entitled to have the park improved, as the people of that land pay a
large portion of the city’s tax, with their residences being very valuable,”
the article read.

In the years that followed, the staircase and connecting tramp sections from Euclid Avenue
to Westminster Park was constructed, trees were planted and a gazebo (now gone) was built
to host the families traveling by trolley to enjoy the view.

Syracuse, NY. Westminster Park. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2017

Syracuse, NY. Westminster Park. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2017

The well maintained a regularly mowed green oval in the center of park resembles a traditional bowling green - a place for lawn bowling (similar to the Italian bocce). I wonder if bowling has ever been played here? There are similar ovals atop other city summits. I'll have to check with the Parks Department and see if there is interest in an outdoor bowling league - or at least a one day affair.

A Little Known Reminder of World War I: The Split Rock Explosion Monumentby Samuel D. Gruber

I've written about
many public monuments on this blog, especially war monuments, such as the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at Clinton Square and The Hiker at Billings Park. But one
of the most unexpected war monuments in Central New York and probably among the least known is the striking memorial erected to the victims of the terrible Split Rock Explosion of 1918 and located in Oakwood Cemetery. Since we are in the midst of commemoration of the centennial of American entry into World War I, let's take a look.

The elegant stone monument is a large high thin slab flanked by two low stone urns, and it sits on the edge of Oakwood's raised section B, originally part of Morningside Cemetery, not far from Comstock Ave. It is in distinct contrast to traditional war monuments with their heroic statues of fighting men, such as the one in Billing Park to the Soldiers of Thirty Eighth Infantry United States Army, shown above). Although the dead remembered here were victims of the World War I effort, their deaths came far from combat, and thus their remembrance is largely outside the mainstream of World War commemoration. the explosion is more often mentioned in the context of catastrophic industrial accidents then in lists of casualties of war. The Semet-Solvay Company manufactured explosives during World War I,
for which work they purchased an abandoned quarry called Split Rock in the western hills of Syracuse, where they began producing TNT on site in 1915. On
July 2nd, 1918 a mixing motor in the main TNT building overheated and ignited nearly three tons of explosives. The building was destroyed, fifty people were killed, and dozens injured. From my reading it is not clear to me how many died in the explosion and how many fighting the fire.

The Semet-Solvay Company erected this monument which mentions those who "voluntarily gave their lives" fighting the fire. It seems, based on a newspaper article, that fifteen victims must be buried here.

On the sides of the monument are lists of names of victims, but on the back of the monument is inscribed:

"These - the unidentified dead - are buried here"

Then fifteen names are listed - is it that the remains could not be separated and identified? These are probably the fifteen mentioned in the newspaper article of August 6, 1918, since Protestant, Catholic and Jewish clergy officiated - and the names listed suggest victims of all three faiths.

About Me

Samuel D. GruberI am a cultural heritage consultant involved in a wide variety of
documentation, research, preservation, planning, publication, exhibition
and education projects in America and abroad.
I was trained as a medievalist, architectural historian and
archaeologist, but for 25 years my special expertise has developed in
Jewish art, architecture and historic sites. My various blogs about Jewish Art and Monuments, Central New York and Public Art and Memory allow me to
clear my email and my desk, and to report on some of my travels, by
passing on to a broader public just some of the interesting and
compelling information from projects I am working on, or am following.
Feel free to contact me for more information on any of the topics
posted, or if you have a project of your own you would like to discuss.

My Upcoming CNY Talks and Tours

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2014 1:00 pm (check for details) Syracuse Stage 820 E. Genesee Street Syracuse, NY 13210 Divided Loyalties: Jews and the Civil War In conjunction with performances of the play The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez I will discuss the involvement of Jews in the Civil War - on the North and south, and something about the often ambivalent Jewish attitude toward American slavery at the time.

Sunday, Feb 16, 2014 11:30 am Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas Great Synagogues of the World Jews are the “People of Book”, but surprisingly to many, they are also “People of the Building.” Given the opportunity, Jews have built beautiful synagogues for their communities for hundreds of years. Inspired by the detailed architectural accounts in the Bible, and also by their contemporary surroundings, Jews in many places have fulfilled the concept of Hiddur Mitzvah (glorify the commandment) through architecture and architectural decoration. Great synagogues have been built in Europe of since Middle Ages, but especially since the lavish inauguration of the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam in the late 17th century the stream of impressive Jewish buildings has continued with little interruption on every inhabited continent throughout the world. This lecture illustrates this architectural and artistic heritage with historic and contemporary images, and traces its survival in the 21st century with special emphasis on lesser known “great synagogues,” on recently restored buildings, and on some of the newest synagogues built.